Disputes – International

Hostilities in 1974 divided the island into two de facto autonomous entities, the internationally recognised Cypriot Government and a Turkish-Cypriot community (north Cyprus); the 1,000-strong UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) has served in Cyprus since 1964 and maintains the buffer zone between north and south; on 1 May 2004, Cyprus entered the European Union still divided, with the EU's body of legislation and standards (acquis communitaire) suspended in the north.

Refugees and internally displaced persons

210,000, both Turkish and Greek Cypriots. Many of them have been displaced for over 30 years.

Trafficking in persons

Cyprus is primarily a destination country for a large number of women trafficked from Eastern and Central Europe, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic for the purpose of sexual exploitation; traffickers continued to fraudulently recruit victims for work as dancers in cabarets and nightclubs on short-term "artiste" visas, for work in pubs and bars on employment visas, or for illegal work on tourist or student visas; there were credible reports of female domestic workers from India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines forced to work excessively long hours and denied proper compensation.

Illicit drugs

Cyprus is a minor transit point for heroin and hashish via air routes and container traffic to Europe, especially from Lebanon and Turkey; some cocaine transits as well; despite a strengthening of anti-money-laundering legislation, remains vulnerable to money laundering; reporting of suspicious transactions in offshore sector remains weak.